The American League Wild Card Round of the 2017 MLB playoffs
is all but set as the New York Yankees will play host to the Minnesota Twins in
a one-game playoffs. Winner takes all and gets the consolation prize of facing
off with the Cleveland Indians, the best team in baseball right now, while the
loser goes home to pick up the pieces and begin work on their 2018 rosters. You
can’t predict baseball and anything can happen in a one-game playoff scenario
but that shouldn’t stop us from taking a look at what each team has done this
season against one-another, especially the starting pitchers for each
respective side Luis Severino and Ervin Santana. While these stats and this
analysis won’t tell the story on what will happen next Tuesday in the Bronx it
might at least give us an idea if the past is any indicator of the future.
The New York Yankees and the Minnesota Twins have faced off six
times this season with the Yankees winning four of those six including sweeping
all three at Yankee Stadium recently in impressive fashion. Here are all the particulars
on those games:
| Gm# | Date | Tm | Opp | W/L | R | RA | Win | Loss | Save | Attendance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | Monday, Jul 17 | NYY | @ | MIN | L | 2 | 4 | Rogers | Smith | Kintzler | 27,566 |
| 92 | Tuesday, Jul 18 | NYY | @ | MIN | W | 6 | 3 | Shreve | Colon | Chapman | 33,114 |
| 93 | Wednesday, Jul 19 | NYY | @ | MIN | L | 1 | 6 | Berrios | Montgomery | 33,380 | |
| 150 | Monday, Sep 18 | NYY | MIN | W | 2 | 1 | Robertson | Santana | Chapman | 30,425 | |
| 151 | Tuesday, Sep 19 | NYY | MIN | W | 5 | 2 | Sabathia | Berrios | Chapman | 30,218 | |
| 152 | Wednesday, Sep 20 | NYY | MIN | W | 11 | 3 | Shreve | Colon | 30,099 |
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The presumed starting pitchers for the contest will be Luis
Severino for the Yankees and Ervin Santana for the Twins. Let’s take a quick
moment to check in with what each team has done against the other this season
as well as how these pitchers have fared against the other team’s respective
offense throughout their careers.
Severino vs. Minnesota in 2017
Severino vs. Minnesota Batters Career
Santana vs. New York in 2017
Santana vs. Yankees Batters Career
The New York Yankees have had the Minnesota Twins number
more times than not here in 2017 as well as during the Yankees recent string of
success but all of that and $15 bucks will buy you a beer at Yankee Stadium
next Tuesday in the playoff game. You can’t predict baseball, you just can’t,
but hopefully these numbers will bring a little less doubt as to what to expect
next Tuesday here in the Bronx. Or maybe they will just mean that I was crazy
for even discussing them when we talk again next Wednesday morning after the AL
Wild Card Playoff Round. Stay tuned.
Pitcher vs. team stats via ESPN.com. Head-to-head matchups
and team stats via Baseball Reference. Big shout outs to those guys for making
posts like this for the little bloggers possible. Thank you from TGP!!
